Ukrainian General Staff: Russia has lost 301,030 military personnel since the start of 2026 — nearly 150 motorized rifle regiments

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia's armed forces have lost 301,030 servicemen killed and wounded in Ukraine since the start of 2026. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing an official statement from the General Staff. The department emphasizes that such a significant volume of enemy losses is the result of the effective combat work of all components of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.

Scale of losses: nearly 150 motorized rifle regiments

To make the figures more tangible, the General Staff provided a comparison: the stated volume of losses is comparable to the personnel strength of nearly 150 motorized rifle regiments, assuming an approximate regimental strength of about two thousand servicemen. It is precisely this "arithmetic" that is used in the statement to show that the losses over the year are comparable to the destruction of hundreds of the enemy's full-scale tactical units.

Summer as the peak period

The heaviest losses this year were inflicted on Russian forces during the three summer months. Over the summer, the Defense Forces neutralized 124,170 Russian servicemen, according to the General Staff. High figures are also being maintained in September: as of the morning of September 15, the Russian occupiers had already lost 20,360 personnel. Thus, the summer-autumn period remains the most "costly" for the enemy in 2026.

Contradictory data

There are inconsistencies in the figures in the statements of Ukrainian officials that are important to distinguish. The Head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense, Oleksandr Ivashchenko, stated that Russian generals have requested an additional approximately 800,000 military personnel to continue the war against Ukraine. At the same time, he also stated that in reality the enemy army is capable of absorbing no more than 300,000–500,000 new recruits at once. The gap between the stated requirement (800,000) and the army's actual "absorption capacity" (300,000–500,000) is not explained in the source. Moreover, the comparison of annual losses with "150 regiments" is conditional in nature and directly depends on the assumed strength of a single regiment used in the calculation.

Expectations of mobilization after the State Duma "elections"

Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that after the completion of the State Duma "elections" in the Russian Federation, Ukraine expects new developments, including the possible mobilization of no fewer than 300,000 Russian soldiers. The head of state reported that the Russian infrastructure is already prepared for its conduct, however, the format of the mobilization — covert or open — is still unknown. The coincidence of this forecast with the annual volume of confirmed losses (301,030) underscores the scale of the personnel shortage that, according to Kyiv's assessment, Moscow is trying to compensate with new waves of conscription.